Hello All,I'm in the market for a new tig machine...,. I am also in Toronto, the land of everything you buy is three times the price of items in the US Of A! Miller and Lincoln machines for something in the 250 amp range complete with cooler is in the range of seven to $8000 Canadian funds. I have always been a proud purchaser of north American products but unfortunately in this case seven to $8000 is a bit steep for a decent 250 amp Tig welding outfit. I will occasionally get into five eights and three-quarter stock and including aluminum it is only occasionally where I have heavier Materials but want to be able to slam the pedal down when needed! the Everlast 255EXT complete with cooler is about $3800 Canadian taxes in which is pretty much half the price of the new I believe it is miller dynasty! As the saying goes you get what you pay for however I have seen a lot of YouTube videos including Jody using this Everlast unit does anyone have any thoughts on this ? As mentioned I am a proud North American and buy American and Canadian whenever I can But if I were to pick up the Everlast I can get the Everlast and cooler and also pick up a hypertherm 45 plasma cutter for the price of the Miller. Any and all thoughts are appreciated

This is a common conundrum. Comes down to how much the known reliability and day to day abuse a Miller takes is worth to you! I use miller and Hypertherm at work but have a Thermal Arc and Lincoln at home. Plus a Chinese plasma.

Welcome to the forum! Are you near Burlington, by any chance? Everlast Canada is in Burlington, and the guy that runs it (Duncan, iirc) also oversees factory production. I've heard a number of good customer service stories about them- if you decide on Everlast I bet he can set you up.

Yes I'm about 25 minutes from Burlington, Brewington is a small town of about 250,000 people just west of Toronto which is about 5 1/2 million now . I called Everlast in Burlington at 1 PM today which is Friday and received a message stating that they're open full days Monday to Thursday and half day until noon on Friday anyhow I left a message for someone to call me back.... they call back in about 15 minutes I really nice lady which I did not get her name but I actually called Everlast in Burlington on Tuesday and unfortunately I didn't get the fellows name but I was on the phone asking questions for 45 minutes and we were talking about everything from Miller to Lincoln to ever lost a plasma cutter's really nice people anyhow I spoke with the lady today and she asked where I was coming from I told her and I was there she waited for me I got there at about 330 they closed at 12 as mentioned the lady was really nice unfortunately I didn't get her name but I did talk to a fellow named Mike who was really nice well both of them and actually there was a third fellow as well who is really nice and they all proceeded to greet me there. Anyhow I've bought the 255 EXT and the cooler and just got it home and haven't even connected the torches yet it comes with two which I didn't realize a number line and a number 20 the number 20 is water cooled and the nine is just air cooled but that's OK because it's only rated for 150 A anyhow. I have a Lincoln square wave 200 which I picked up last August and quickly outgrew but it is a solid machine I did some modifications to it and put A couple of valves and a T in the ergo online internally and brought a line out through the grill which is stamped into the cover on the sides so I can run a water cooled torch with it and I will keep this machine to throw in the van and use it for the portability and just keep the Everlast and the cooler at my shop. I attached a photo of it hopefully the photo will appear so it at least lit up!

If we start talking about domestic product and quality I mentioned in an earlier post that I picked up a Lincoln square wave 200 back in August 2016..... well I started making room for the new Everlast and decided that I would disassemble The Lincoln square wave and started to unthread the pin connecter for the pedal and I think because it is aluminum it seized up and there is a three-piece threaded connecter which has a attached wiring restraint on it. I wasn't really paying attention other than turning the knurled nut but unfortunately it decided to turn at the wrong location and busted off two of the five wires off of the pins which I have just taken apart and now I have to solder that back up before I can set up the Everlast so I don't know if quality is all that much better with the domestics although I hope it would be. The ticket 200 is a pretty good machine for the amount of time I've had it I have welded half inch aluminum with it but I had to pre heat with the torch..... i'm hoping the extra 50 A will make the difference . Thank you for the input !David